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If you can do one favour for your child, expose them to and encourage a love of poetry.
The benefits of poetry can’t be underestimated for kids. It can help with language development, encourages children to play and experiment with words and, when read aloud, it’s fantastic for understanding pitch, rhythm and inflection.
But perhaps most important to all, poetry can help children see the world in a different way, listen to a diverse range of voices tackling a diverse range of subjects, and feel inspired and capable.
With a 2020 survey showing that around one in five children aged nine to 18 regularly read poetry outside of school, the desire is definitely there, so we’ve rounded up the best children’s poetry books to nurture that love of prose.
How we tested
To make our selection we enlisted the help of our testers, spanning from two years old to mid-teens, to give their honest feedback on which books deserved their place, taking into consideration how accessible the language was, the themes each book covered, originality and how engaged they were.
As well as this, we considered the poets included in each anthology – in particular, we were looking for an inclusive range of voices, and plenty of contemporary poets – as well as the quality, including the cover artwork and any illustrations, and, above all, how often our young testers reached for the book.
Read more:
The best kids’ poetry books for 2021 are:
- Best overall – ‘The Folio Book of Children’s Poetry’ introduced by Penelope Lively: £49.95, Foliosociety.com
- Best for nature lovers – ‘Wonder’ chosen by Ana Sampson: £14.99, Waterstones.com
- Best for performing – ‘Poems Aloud’ by Joseph Coelho: £8.99, Blackwells.co.uk
- Best for older teens – ‘SLAM! You’re Gonna Wanna Hear This’ chosen by Nikita Gill: £7.99, Waterstones.com
- Best for bedtime reading – ‘At the Height of the Moon: A Book of Bedtime Poetry and Art’ edited by Alison Baverstock, Matt Cunningham and Annette Roeder: £15.19, Whsmith.co.uk
- Best for the whole family – ‘A Poem for Every Day of the Year’ edited by Allie Esiri: £13.16, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for young children – ‘If You Go Down to the Woods Today’ by Rachel Piercey: £11.31, Blackwells.co.uk
- Best for inspiring hope – ‘Poems to Save the World With’ by Chris Riddell, published by Pan Macmillan: £9.58, Blackwells.co.uk
- Best gifts for teenage girls – ‘You Don’t Have to be Everything: Poems for Girls becoming Themselves’ edited by Diana Whitney: £10.98, Amazon.co.uk
